Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Inter Faith Network for the United Kingdom: Finance

The Lord Bishop of Leicester: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the value of the Inter-Faith Network, and (2) the risks of withdrawing funding from the Network.

Baroness Scott of Bybrook: This department has provided funding to the Inter Faith Network since 2006/07 and is grateful to the Inter Faith Network for its work to promote understanding between different faiths and none. The department monitors all funded organisations throughout the lifecycle of their project for the purposes of assessing delivery against workplan targets, compliance and evaluation, in line with best practice for the management of public funding and to ensure value is demonstrated. When making funding decisions, the Government considers a wide range of factors, including government priorities and current budgetary pressures.

Grenfell Tower: Monuments

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect a decision to be reached about the delivery of a permanent fitting memorial to those who lost their lives in the Grenfell fire tragedy.

Baroness Scott of Bybrook: The government is unequivocally committed to supporting the independent Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission and the community, in their creation of a lasting memorial to honour those who lost their lives in the tragedy.The Commission published its first report in May 2022, which can be found on its website. The Commission is continuing to engage with the community to develop a proposal for a memorial, and is working towards its final report, which is expected to be published in autumn 2023.

Affordable Housing

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what plansthey have to increase the development of affordable homes in order to address the decline in home ownership.

Baroness Scott of Bybrook: This Government is committed to helping aspiring home owners to take their first steps onto the housing ladder.That is why home ownership forms a core part of the Government's £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme, which using our shared Ownership tenure, will deliver thousands of homes for affordable ownership right across the country.Since 2010 we have delivered over 632,000 affordable homes of all tenures and an estimated 136,000 homes for Shared Ownership.

Help to Buy Scheme

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to relaunch the Help to Buy scheme.

Baroness Scott of Bybrook: The Help to Buy scheme was implemented to boost housing supply and help people into home ownership, which it has done very successfully. However, it was always going to be a time-limited intervention, hence the announcement at Budget 2018 that the current scheme would run from April 2021 until March 2023, thereby giving the market and potential customers plenty of notice.The Government has brought forward a range of interventions in recent years to promote home ownership and will continue to keep other opportunities under review. Details of schemes including the First Homes, Mortgage Guarantee and Shared Ownership schemes can be found at: https://www.ownyourhome.gov.uk/.Own your Home (pdf, 116.2KB)

Housing: Planning Permission

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reform the planning system to increase the supply of houses.

Baroness Scott of Bybrook: To get enough homes built in the places where people and communities need them, a crucial first step is to plan for the right number of homes. That is why we remain committed to our ambition of delivering 300,000 homes per year in England and to retaining a clear starting point for calculating local housing needs. We know the best way to get more homes is having more up-to-date local plans in place. Therefore, we are also introducing new-style local plans which will be streamlined and put in place more quickly, with a requirement for these to be updated at least every 5 years, or earlier in certain circumstances. The most recent statistics show that we saw 232,820 new dwellings, which is over 75% of the way towards our goal of 300,000.

Department of Health and Social Care

Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation: Disclosure of Information

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Markham on 12 April (HL6942), when the minutes from the 24 January and 14 February meetings of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation will be made available to the public.

Lord Markham: The minutes of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation COVID-19 meetings which took place on 24 January and 14 February were uploaded to the JCVI GOV.UK website on 9 June 2023.

Artificial Sweeteners

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessmentthey havemade of the implications of the World Health Organization guideline on the use of non-sugar sweeteners, published on 15 May 2023,for dietary guidelines in England.

Lord Markham: No assessment has been made. Policy officials have noted the report, its findings and the evidence used by World Health Organization (WHO) to inform their conclusions.The United Kingdom’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition keeps a watching brief on the evidence around non-sugar sweeteners and health. The Government continues to recommend that the population’s average sugars intake should be reduced to no more than 5% of daily energy intake.

Electronic Cigarettes

Lord Naseby: To ask His Majesty's Government when the illicit vaping enforcement squad will commence work.

Lord Markham: National Trading Standards, who are delivering the vaping enforcement work, have already commenced work on data collection and intelligence analysis of the illicit vaping market. Other activity, for example at the border, test purchasing and testing of illicit products, is likely to commence in the Autumn.

Health Centres: Greenwich

The Earl of Sandwich: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to reconsider the proposed closure of the Clover Health Centre in Greenwich which serves Nepalese and other minorities suffering from severe health problems and language difficulties; and what assessment they have made of whether other local health centres have the capacity to take on these patients.

Lord Markham: NHS England has no plans to reconsider the closure of the Clover Health Centre in Greenwich, NHS England is assured there is capacity in local general practitioner (GP) surgeries to support patients registered at Clover Health Centre. NHS England is carefully managing the dispersal of the patient list to other local GP surgeries to ensure that patients receive continuity of care. NHS England is supporting all patients to register with an alternative GP surgery and is providing additional support, including translation and interpretation services, for those who need it. NHS England is also working with community representatives to ensure patients from minority groups receive the support they need.

Food

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle: To ask His Majesty's Government what funding they have allocated to support initiatives aimed at (1) reducing the consumption of high fat, salt and sugar foods, and (2) improving the overall dietary habits of the population.

Lord Markham: The Department has allocated funding to support enforcement of current regulatory measures to reduce consumption of products high in fat, salt, or sugar, and improve dietary habits. This will include enforcement of promotions restrictions, mandatory calorie labelling in the out-of-home sector and restrictions on advertising of less healthy food (on television and online). In March 2021, the Department committed to develop a new approach to health incentives that aims to support people to eat better and move more. The Better Health: Rewards pilot launched on 17 February 2023 to adults who live in Wolverhampton and includes a £3 million investment for rewards in Wolverhampton. In addition, approximately £500,000 will be spent on promotion of healthy weaning and breastfeeding support and advice to parents. This is delivered through Start for Life which is the Department’s national communications programme, supporting families to better health.

Food: Dietary Supplements

Lord Rooker: To ask His Majesty's Government why they did not join Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, the 27 European Union member states, Israel, Malaysia and Paraguay in putting forward to the 76th World Health Assembly, held on 21–30 May 2023, the resolution to accelerate efforts on food micronutrient fortification.

Lord Markham: The United Kingdom actively participated during negotiations and supported the World Health Organization (WHO) Resolution on, ‘Accelerating efforts for preventing micronutrient deficiencies and their consequences, including spina bifida and other neural tube defects, through safe and effective food fortification’, initiated by Colombia and brought to the 152nd WHO Executive Board, which recommended adoption of the Resolution to the World Health Assembly.During the 76th World Health Assembly, the UK intervened to welcome the Resolution and called on the WHO to release updated child wasting guidelines and commence their operationalisation in the countries of most concern. The Resolution was subsequently adopted by all WHO Member States, including the UK, at the 76th World Health Assembly.

Hereditary Diseases

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byEarl Howe on 15 July 2013 (HL1303), what progress the Humanand Embryology Authority is able to report that may correspond to previous estimates that mitochondria replacement techniques could "save the lives of up to 10 babies who are born every year with a severe form of the disease, such as those with high levels of mutations".

Lord Markham: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has advised that it has made no assessment of the estimates previously made by the Wellcome Trust Centre for Mitochondrial Research at Newcastle University, as the number of treatments to date in the United Kingdom is so low.

Department for Transport

Bus Services: Finance

Baroness Randerson: To ask His Majesty's Government which councils in Englandhave withdrawn all financial support for subsidised bus services in each of the past five years.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The Department for Transport does not hold this information in this format.

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Cybercrime

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent cybercriminals from exploiting vulnerabilities in UK firms' cybersecurity software.

Viscount Camrose: Software is a key driver of growth across the UK, and a fundamental building block of the digital economy. However, this has also increased its appeal to malicious actors. The Government is committed to strengthening the resilience of UK businesses and organisations, and it is a key pillar of the 2022 National Cyber Security Strategy.The UK is already making significant progress in the area of cybersecurity. The UK Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure (PSTI) Act is raising standards of device security for consumers and organisations and the Network and Information Systems (NIS) Regulations are being updated to ensure that critical digital service providers have thorough security practices. These complement ongoing work by the National Cyber Security Centre to provide technical advice to the Government, critical national infrastructure and organisations across the UK.In February, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology published a call for views on software resilience and security for businesses and organisations. This sought views on the key risks and challenges around software security, and where the Government should focus on mitigating them.The call for views closed on 1 May, and the department is currently analysing the responses. These will inform the design of a set of policies to further address risks linked to software. The Government will be setting out its next steps in the summer.

Department for Work and Pensions

Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations

Baroness Browning: To ask His Majesty's Government what training in customer mental health they give to contractors providing assessments of benefits claimants.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: We are fully committed to supporting those with mental health conditions. The assessment of mental, cognitive, and intellectual function is an integral part of the assessment process. All healthcare professionals (HPs) undertaking assessments on behalf of the department must be registered practitioners who have undergone comprehensive training in the functional assessment of disability, and mental health conditions. HPs continue to keep this knowledge up to date through continuous professional development. In addition, mental health function champions support HPs by providing additional expertise about mental health, cognitive, developmental, and learning disabilities, and can be referred to at any time during the assessment process.